Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Although, in this particular post I'm thinking of OTHER PEOPLES' prayers and not just my own.

I was hanging up some Christmas cards yesterday when it kind of hit me how much I depend on the prayers of other people. Over the years, when people have asked me how I do what I do (and I think everyone with a large family has been asked that before), I always say "prayers". While I know how important my own prayer life is, I have come to realize that it is the prayers of other people that really keep me going.

I love when people send us Mass cards, especially at Christmas. That, in my opinion, is the best kind of present to get. I love getting cards from different religious groups or ministries that say that they'll be praying for me and my family. I am blessed to have many friends who pray for me and who are ready to kick it into "overdrive" whenever I need them to.

That is how I keep going. That is how I keep my own prayer life alive. It is the prayer of so many others that keeps me on track or gives me the push I need to get back on track if I've lost my way.

If you need help in your life, my suggestion is to find people to pray for you. Call your church, ask your friends, call a local monastery or religious group and ask them to pray for you. Don't be too proud to do this! In all humility, ask for prayers and you'll be amazed at how you'll feel the grace flow.

During the remainder of this Advent season, be assured of my prayers for you. Please pray for me in return :)

Friday, December 10, 2010

We've been zipping through Advent at amazing speed, haven't we? I mean, we're almost to the 3rd Sunday...the joyful Sunday...the rose candle Sunday. Speaking of candles, my children want to know why our church isn't lighting the candles in a circular fashion. Assuming a N, S, E and W orientation (with the rose candle being in the west position), they lit the north candle the 1st week, the east candle the 2nd week and now they'll have to jump over to the west and then head back to the south. Why not go in a clockwise direction and have the rose candle in the south position? Is there some kind of rubric for Advent wreaths that I am unaware of?

2.

It has been a very subdued Advent around here, mainly due to the fact that we have had someone down with a nasty flu since the 10th of November. It is the weirdest illness: a fever for 4 days, with a sore throat, headache and stomach ache. On the 5th day the fever goes away and on the 6th day the next person gets it. This has held true for all 6 kids! I can't figure it out other than to attribute it to God wanting me to have a quiet Advent. Ok, well quiet in the sense that I have done A LOT less running around than I normally would. I've actually had time to sit down and read...mainly because the kids want me visible at ALL times!

3.

Speaking of the flu, we have named this particular strain the "Marcelle the Shell" flu because at some point during their illness, all of the kids have sounded like Marcelle the Shell. If you haven't seen this yet, take the time to watch it. It is a hoot!

4.

We hit another milestone in our family this week...the last first tooth to fall out fell out. Did you catch that one? Mr 5 yo lost his first tooth this past week. I don't do teeth, so when he came to me and showed me this tooth that was twisting and turning and hanging by a thread and it was only 9:00 in the morning and I knew his father wouldn't be home for another 8 hours, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Fortunately, Ms 16 yo is not faint of heart when it comes to teeth, so she reached in, touched his tooth and it fell right out. He was amazed that it didn't hurt at all! Thank God for small favors.

5.

During the winter months we try to incorporate more soup meals into our weekly menus. It is cheaper, feeds a lot and it is nice and warm! It has also worked well with all the sick people! This week we had an awesome Irish Cheddar Cheese soup. It is simple to make and it tastes great. If anyone asks, I'll put the recipe in the comment box.

6.

The kids have been waiting all year for the premiere of "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". Excitement has been building and today is the day! Unfortunately, the only one who will be able to see it today is Ms 18 yo. The rest of us will have to wait until at least Tuesday. Torture, to be sure. I hear it is supposed to be a good one.

7.

Please keep us all in your prayers this weekend. On Sunday the girls will be performing the first of their two "A Silent Nativity" performances. The director just had her gallbladder out and so things have been a bit rough. It seems odd to only have two of our family in the show instead of the 6 we had in "The Seven Last Words of Christ" performances. I will be taking pictures, so I hope to have some up next week. They make wonderful meditations for the coming of Christ on Christmas.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

When God puts something in front of you that you believe could benefit almost everyone you know, you feel an obligation to share it.

When you personally witness family and friends who have gotten their lives back after being ill and depressed for years, you feel an obligation to share it.

When you listen to countless people talk about how they have benefited from something in ways you can't even imagine, you feel an obligation to share it.

No...this particular post isn't about turning your life over to Jesus Christ; although you could say the same things I just listed about that, too :)

This post is about a nutritional supplement that my family and I began taking about four months ago and we have been amazed at what it has done for us and for others we know. I was just at a meeting yesterday and I listened to a doctor tell us about why he sells this product. He told us about a patient he has, a young mother whose MS had gotten worse so that she became wheelchair bound. She was obviously distraught over not being able to take care of her family the way she wanted to. This doctor got this mother started on these supplements and in a short time (sorry, can't remember the exact time frame) the mother was out of her wheelchair and caring for her family again. She came back to her doctor and simply said, "Thank You". With a choked up voice, that doctor told us, "That is why I do this!"

The nutritional supplement I am talking about is Reliv. It is good nutrition made simple...It is good, balanced nutrition in a powdered formula that you take two or more times a day. That's it...it is easy and good for you. Now, Reliv makes absolutely NO claims to cure anything. What Reliv does is deliver good food to your body and then your body does the rest. God created our bodies to be miraculous things. Our bodies, when supplied with the right nutrients, can actually heal themselves. That is what Reliv does...provide you with bio-available nutrition so that your body can begin to heal itself of all that ails it!

I personally can attest to having much more energy, much clearer thinking and an overall feeling of well-being. I have a number of friends and family who have been taking Reliv who have gone to their doctors' and heard, "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it! Your test results are great!"

So, if you knew of something that could help people, if you knew of something that could give people their quality of life back no matter what their age, if you knew of something that could make people smile again...wouldn't you feel obligated to share it, too???

I do realize that, just like when you try to share your faith, some people aren't quite ready to hear it yet or don't want to hear it. If, however, you feel you are ready to hear more about Reliv or are ready to feed your body some good nutrition and watch what your body can do for itself, let me know and I'd be happy to tell you more about it.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Thanks to Hallmark for the candles and my daughter for the greenery, I feel much better about Advent beginning now. Our Advent rituals pretty much consist of lighting the candles every night and singing one verse of "O Come O Come Emmanuel". That is about all we can handle on a consistent basis.

A number of years ago I gave up on planning the "perfect" Advent. I used to have my list of all the things we were going to do and I would imagine the peacefulness that would reign in our home and hearts.

As I said, I pretty much gave up on all of that a long time ago. I have decided that my Advent will be precisely what God wants my Advent to be. So far this year it has entailed missing daily mass all week because of sick kids and a messed up schedule because we've all been sleeping later (due to the fact that some of us haven't been sleeping much at night :)

On the upside of that, I've had to stay home a lot more than I normally would and so, in a way, it has been peaceful...well that is, in between the temperature taking, the cold rags, the medicine and other unpleasantness.

I always hope that by the time Christmas comes around my heart will be somewhat better prepared to receive the Lord. What I've come to realize is that the more I abandon my desires to God, the closer I come to having that peace in my heart.